I wouldn't be asking if I knew the answer to this question.

[Jan M.]

This was our discussion over breakfast this morning.

Why hasn't the homeless/destitute population been almost entirely wiped out by COVID-19? Is it happening and we aren't hearing about it on our TV channels or reading about it online? From everything we've all been told about COVID-19 you would expect the death toll among the homeless to be absolutely staggering.

Though our timeshare travels in the past year or so we've been to Austin, TX, Portland, OR, San Diego, CA, and Las Vegas. We also live in the Fort Lauderdale/Miami, FL area. All of these places have a very visible number of homeless/destitute people as do many other big cities. Some people are still volunteering in distributing food and needed items. It's not like the homeless are in lock down and no information can get out.

 

[DaveNV]

Good point. I don't have an answer to your question, but I think this may be some of the reported "unknown" deaths I'm seeing. In my town, while driving around, I'm not seeing any homeless, like I did before this. (I admit, I'm not spending much time in the car these days, so maybe I've missed it.) Homelessness was never a large presence here, but there were places where I'd seem some, or the mess (like shopping carts and assorted trash) they tend to leave behind. Maybe they're also hunkered down somewhere. ?

Dave

 

[MrockStar]

Maybee the 24 hour news cycle reporters don't feel that the homeless are to dangerous/unhealthy to be around/interview and that they don't watch cable news shows or vote so no vested interest and don't affect ratings or pols so a waste of there time. Just some thoughts.

 

[WVBaker]

This was our discussion over breakfast this morning.

Why hasn't the homeless/destitute population been almost entirely wiped out by COVID-19? Is it happening and we aren't hearing about it on our TV channels or reading about it online? From everything we've all been told about COVID-19 you would expect the death toll among the homeless to be absolutely staggering.

Though our timeshare travels in the past year or so we've been to Austin, TX, Portland, OR, San Diego, CA, and Las Vegas. We also live in the Fort Lauderdale/Miami, FL area. All of these places have a very visible number of homeless/destitute people as do many other big cities. Some people are still volunteering in distributing food and needed items. It's not like the homeless are in lock down and no information can get out.

The homeless are simply not headline news. The numbers are far greater than you may hear on the news I would guess. When a homeless person dies, regardless of the cause, he or she are simply gathered up and disposed of in the usual manner. Even their families don't care because if they did, they wouldn't be wandering the streets in search of their next meal. Just a stark reality of our society I'm afraid.

 

[Luanne]

In some cities efforts are being taken to assist the homeless by using alternate facilities for shelters, by keeping shelters open longer (Santa Fe is doing this).

 

[DrQ]

Here is my SWAG:

1. COVID-19 bad complications seem to be related to uncontrolled diabetes, if you are homeless and uncontrolled, the complication from diabetes would have probably already done its work.
2. Sad to say, but when (if) the homeless are found dead, there is not a lot of effort in determining the cause.

We know it is in the homeless population, but largely not well understood, as with really most COVID-19 infection nationwide really

 

[MrockStar]

In some cities efforts are being taken to assist the homeless by using alternate facilities for shelters, by keeping shelters open longer (Santa Fe is doing this).

And Battlle Creek MI, have placed many in rental homes with rent assistance (safer) so that's good.

 

[klpca]

Our homeless are being housed in the now unused convention center, and also I believe some of the unoccupied college dorms.

 

[isisdave]

Why would you expect them to be "almost entirely wiped out"? Even if their death rate was 2 or 3 or 5 times average, it wouldn't be near that level. As klpca reports (I'm near San Diego too), many are in shelters where their health can be observed.

I get the impression that more homeless than usual are accepting shelter in these times, similar to what happens on the coldest nights of the year.

 

[Iggyearl]

If you are homeless in Saratoga Springs, NY you might be able to get a room at the Holiday Inn. Additionally, the hotel is also open to regular paying guests. I suppose the hotel will write off the costs as a charitable donation. Win - win.

Holiday Inn to house the homeless in Saratoga Springs

Homeless will stay at the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs during the pandemic.

poststar.com

 

[Karen G]

A special facility for the homeless was built in Las Vegas, but doesn't seem to have been used very much. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2020/apr/13/500-bed-quarantine-and-isolation-facility-for-the/

 

[Old Hickory]

I've not seen real demographics on the deaths. We know they are (mostly) elderly in poor health which is the same for all deaths.

 

[PigsDad]

Why hasn't the homeless/destitute population been almost entirely wiped out by COVID-19?

Why would anyone think that a disease that has a death rate of less than 1% be able to wipe out a whole population, even if that certain population was more susceptible to the disease? I don't understand hyperbole like this.

Kurt

 

[pedro47]

In New York City to stop the homeless population from riding the subways all night.
New York City has shut down their subway system at night.

 

[Luanne]

In New York City to stop the homeless population from riding the subways all night.
New York City has shut down their subway system at night.

No, that's not why they shut it down. They are shutting it down for cleaning and disinfecting. But it looks like they may also be using the closures to move homeless out and get them into services.

 

[hcarman]

In Austin the homeless camps are now outfitted with bathrooms and hand sanitizer stations. Many homeless also have their own tents. So there are some precautions. The shelter where many get their meals is requiring masks, I was told. However. only about 25% seem to wear them outside and around camps in a city that is required to wear masks in public. I guess it is too difficult to enforce.

 

[MrockStar]

In Austin the homeless camps are now outfitted with bathrooms and hand sanitizer stations. Many homeless also have their own tents. So there are some precautions. The shelter where many get their meals is requiring masks, I was told. However. only about 25% seem to wear them outside and around camps in a city that is required to wear masks in public. I guess it is too difficult to enforce.

Any laws or normal social requirements have for at least for the last 10yrs with the homeless have NOT been increasingly enforced see NY city, San Francisco, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Flint, Detroit Ect.

 

[bluehende]

I was actually in the process of making a post about what we are doing to help the homeless around us. Our local church organization and the state is putting them up at local hotels like others have said. The organization we are working with had 25 that were what they call clients. With the current crisis the need is now over 50. While no confirmation the scuttle butt is that 2 people out of the group died and is being blamed on covid 19. Not wiped out but a large percentage as opposed to the general population. Again only rumors from a very unreliable source and a small sample. The area they live is also a hotbed in an area that is the worst hit in DE.

 

[amycurl]

Because cities are responding to the needs of their homeless population pro-actively. Shelters are implementing stricter cleaning requirements, and lessening the amount of people who can stay (to increase distance between residents.) Some cities (like the one I work in) are opening two different, new shelters (and some of these shelters, in some cities, are in hotels): one that is for those who are positive or presumed-positive, awaiting results, and one for those who are medically fragile (and more likely to have a worse reaction to the virus) but have not yet tested positive.

In some cities, homeless folks are dying and people aren't realizing it is from COVID, if they're not being tested (I suspect this is true for more populated cities.)

I am actively involved in the planning of these efforts, so this isn't just armchair speculation on my part.

The death rate rate for those that test positive, across all populations, in my state is staying pretty steady for the past few weeks at about 3%-4%. So much higher than the flu and the 1% that was quoted earlier. I would consider NC a medium-density state. So, in the city where I work, the last point-in-time count of the homeless population in 2020 was 440 people. Based on those numbers, I would expect that about 17 homeless people would die, if every single one of those 440 ended up getting the virus. Now, even if the death rate was twice the state average, due to folks that experience homelessness having less access to healthcare and many underlying conditions that worsen COVID-19, we're in the 30-40 range. All of those lives are valuable and worth taking extra effort to save, but in no way would the virus "wipe out" people experiencing homelessness.

The community is now focused more on making sure that hundreds and thousands of folks who haven't made rent payments in April and May won't get evicted and become homeless when the eviction moratorium expires in June.

 

[MrockStar]

I was actually in the process of making a post about what we are doing to help the homeless around us. Our local church organization and the state is putting them up at local hotels like others have said. The organization we are working with had 25 that were what they call clients. With the current crisis the need is now over 50. While no confirmation the scuttle butt is that 2 people out of the group died and is being blamed on covid 19. Not wiped out but a large percentage as opposed to the general population. Again only rumors from a very unreliable source and a small sample. The area they live is also a hotbed in an area that is the worst hit in DE.

Thats a great use of mostly empty hotel rooms, glad its an option there.

 

[MrockStar]

Because cities are responding to the needs of their homeless population pro-actively. Shelters are implementing stricter cleaning requirements, and lessening the amount of people who can stay. Some cities (like the one I work in) are opening two different, new shelters (and some of these shelters, in some cities, are in hotels one that is for those who are positive or presumed-positive, awaiting results, and one for those who are medically fragile (and more likely to have a worse reaction to the virus) but have not yet tested positive.

In some cities, homeless folks are dying and people aren't realizing it is from COVID, if they're not being tested (I suspect this is true for more populated cities.)

I am actively involved in the planning of these efforts, so this isn't just armchair speculation on my part.

Thank you.

 

[amycurl]

Thank you.

You are most welcome. Spreading accurate information about this pandemic is part of what I do everyday.

 

[MrockStar]

You are most welcome. Spreading accurate information about this pandemic is part of what I do everyday.

And we here on TUG appreciate it. One of a few sources i look forward to every day !

 

[Brett]

Because cities are responding to the needs of their homeless population pro-actively. Shelters are implementing stricter cleaning requirements, and lessening the amount of people who can stay (to increase distance between residents.) Some cities (like the one I work in) are opening two different, new shelters (and some of these shelters, in some cities, are in hotels): one that is for those who are positive or presumed-positive, awaiting results, and one for those who are medically fragile (and more likely to have a worse reaction to the virus) but have not yet tested positive.

In some cities, homeless folks are dying and people aren't realizing it is from COVID, if they're not being tested (I suspect this is true for more populated cities.)

I am actively involved in the planning of these efforts, so this isn't just armchair speculation on my part.

The death rate rate for those that test positive, across all populations, in my state is staying pretty steady for the past few weeks at about 3%-4%. So much higher than the flu and the 1% that was quoted earlier. I would consider NC a medium-density state. So, in the city where I work, the last point-in-time count of the homeless population in 2020 was 440 people. Based on those numbers, I would expect that about 17 homeless people would die, if every single one of those 440 ended up getting the virus. Now, even if the death rate was twice the state average, due to folks that experience homelessness having less access to healthcare and many underlying conditions that worsen COVID-19, we're in the 30-40 range. All of those lives are valuable and worth taking extra effort to save, but in no way would the virus "wipe out" people experiencing homelessness.

The community is now focused more on making sure that hundreds and thousands of folks who haven't made rent payments in April and May won't get evicted and become homeless when the eviction moratorium expires in June.

thanks for your good work !!

 

[turkel]

Well, I can tell you they are not filling our ER like they used too.

I for one do not want to stay in any hotel the homeless stayed at. We recently had a patient that was homeless and the bed had to be tossed and the room terminally cleaned.